Phctographic printing machine



P 1931; R. s. HOPKINS 1,823,145

EHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTING MACHINE Filed June 8, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet l Sept.15, 1931. R. s. HOPKINS 1,823,145

PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTING MACHINE Fil June 8. 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Sept.15, 1931. s, op s 1,823,145

PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTING MACHINE Filed June 8, 1928 s Sheets-Sheet 5 Fl 1 Ul 9. i v 57 a? 5 mentog v g Jams,

Roy S. Hop

Patented Sept. 15, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ROY SLHOPKINS, OFROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY, OF ROCHESTER,NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK Application filed June 8, 1928.

Serial No. 283,888.

This invention relates to photography and Fig. l is a perspective viewof a printing more particularly to photographic printing machines. Oneobject of the invention is to provide a printing machine forautomatically making fancy borders on photographic prints. Anotherobject is to provide a mechanism for producing any desired exposure atone printing station, said mechanism being adapted .to simultaneouslyproduce a fixed exposure at another printing station. Another object isto provide a printer in which paper is automatically moved betweenprinting stations without attention from the operator. Another object isto provide a printer with a pair of platens moving in timed relation oneto the other. Another object is to provide 'a means for simultaneouslyadjusting a border mask and negative mask and to retain a definitemargin on the prints at both printing stations keeping properregistration between the successive printings. Another object is toprovide relatively fixed margin gauges. and relatively movable printingpanels-for securing double printing registrations, and other objectswill appear from the following specification, the novel features beingparticularly pointed out in the claims at the end thereof.

In amateur finishing establishments and in professional studios it hasbeen customary to provide a pair of complementary masks for producing atinted or fancy border around. prints. Generally one mask is used tomake latent images of the fancy or tinted border on a plurality of papersheets after which the other mask is used with a negative and thepreviously printed paper to produce the final result. This necessitatestwo separate and distinct printing operations, and it not only takes alot of time, but it is difficult to keep registration between the twoprints. My present machine is automatic in that the operator need onlymake a single print, the second border print, registration, positioningand releasing of the paper being cared for by the machine.

Coming now to the drawings wherein like reference characters denote likeparts throughout:

machine constructed in accordance with and illustrating a preferredembodiment of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan view of the printing panels of the machineshown in Fig. 1, parts being removed for clearness;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary section showing parts of a negative clamp;

Fig. 4 is a part section showing the main platen operating mechanism;

Fig. 5 is a cam diagram to illustrate the movement of the main platenoperating cam;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the gearing for operating the main platen;

Fig. 7 shows the pressure obtaining gearing for the main platen;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary section showing the safety device on the mainplaten operating shaft;

Fig. 9 is a section on line 9-9 of Fig. 8;

Fig. 10 is a side elevation of parts of the operating mechanism;

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary detail of the main clutch operating device;

Fig. '12 is a part section showing the secondary clutch operatingdevice; and

Fig. 13 is a fragmentary view showing the secondary platen operatingmechanism.

This printing machine is arranged so that the operator makes asingleprint at the upper platen after which the parts automatically functionpermitting the print to slide by gravity to the lower platen where asecond print is made, after which the parts are automatically actuatedto permit the double printed print to drop by gravity into a convenientreceptacle. It is thus necessary for the operator only to perform theusual operations necessary for making a single print to produce a printwith a tinted or fancy border.

The present embodiment of my invention consists of a cabinet 1 which mayhave sides 2, a top 3, and a slanting front 4, supported on a table-likestructure comprising sides 5, ends 6, and legs 7. This cabinet enclosesthe power operated mechanism and the light source for the two printingpanels, which may be of any convenient shape, but the slanting front 4should be at sufiicient angle from the horizontal to ermit a print toslide rapidly through the force of gravity from one printing station tothe other and into the print receptacle here shown as a drawer 8.

end rail and the last mentioned lug being integral withwthe slotll. Itwill thus be seen that by turning screw 12 the slide is moved a shortdistance up or down.

The slide 11 includes in the present instance a pair of printingopenings 16 and 17 one arranged above the other, both of these openingspreferably being of the same shape, and having one corner 18 or 19 lowerthan the other three corners, as shown in Fig. '2. These printingopenings are covered by the usual glass printing panels 20 or 21 andmasks 22 and 23 are shown covering the glass panels except for theportions through which is it is desired to print. In Fig. 2 the uppermask is the print ITIELSlI and the lower mask is the margin mask lamp Lin a reflector R directs the light rays to each printing panel, thereflectors being carried by slide 11. p

In order'to position sheets of paper for the printing operations gaugemembers are used, as best shown in Fig. 1. Here the upper gauge member24 is substantially L-shaped and is hinged at 25 to member 10 whichforms a part of the slanting front 4. Since the hinge element 26 isfastened to member 10 this gauge member will not move when the slide 11is moved. Similarly gauge member 27 is carried by a shaft 28 which maymove up and down a short distance, but which may not turn, as will behereinafter described, so that gauge member 27 also remains stationarywhile slide 11 is moved.

With the gauge members relativelyfixed,

as above described, and with the printing panels relatively movable,being carried by slide 11, it is obvious that when the screw 12 isturned the masking members over both printing panels will be moved in alike amount, and by having the angular relation of the printing panels16 and 17 at substantially 45 from the horizontal, both lower release anegative by means of a rod 33 passing through aperture 34, and havingthe yoke 35 engaging a bell crank lever 36 attached to a resilient rod37 which has a universal joint at 38 by which it is con-' nected to theknee lever 39. This lever is hinged at 40 to the pressure frame and thespring 41 normally tends to move the lever in the direction shown by thearrow, there preferably being a stop 42 to limit this movement.

f In order to release the .clamp to position a negative an operator maythrust his right knee tothe right pressing against lever 39, thusleaving both hands free to position a negative, which may be either astrip of film or single negatives.

The printing paper must be held in intimate contact with the negativeand mask at both printing panels, and for this purpose theupper printingpanel is covered by a platen 43 and the lower printing panel by a platen44. While these are substantially the same shape they are operated indifferentmanners, platen 43 swinging up and turning upon a shaft andplaten 44 merelymoving a short distance up and down upon a pair ofshafts 46.

The operation of platen 43 will be first described: The mechanism foroperating platen 43 is best shown in Figs. 4 to 9 inclusive. Post 45extends down through the member 10 of the slanting front 4 and through agear 47 passing down into a bearing 48 through which it may slide backand forth. The platen 43 and shaft 45 are normally held spaced from theslanting top 4 by means of a coiled spring 49 extending between abracket 50 and a collar 51.

The shaft 45 may be moved downwardly against spring pressure by means ofa cam 52, gear 53. and a sleeve 54 (Figs. 8 and 9) integral with gear53, which is provided with a notch 55 for receiving a pin 56 carried bythe shaft 45. For the purpose of operating platen 43 the shaft 45 movesas ifit were integral with the cam 52, gear 53, etc. However, in orderto prevent the plateny43' from pressing down and injuring the operatorshand. shaft 45 is provided with a pin 56 I which engages a notch 55 0fsleeve 54. As best shown in Figs. 8 and 9 when the platen is turned inthe direction shown bythe arrow, Fig. 2, and when it is being lowereddownwardly against the printing panel 20, an operator may, by moving theplaten away from the gauge member 24 disengage pin 56 from notch thusallowing the pin to move freely in the arcuate slot 57 and permittingspring 49 to thrust platen 43 upwardly, so that an operator cannot beinj ure d.

Normally, however, the pin due to spring 49 which exerts a twisting aswell as a lifting force upon shaft 45 keeps pin 56 engaged in its seat55.

In order to operate cam member 52 the following mechanism is provided: Apair of rollers 58 are mounted on a sleeve 59 integral with gear 60which, as shown in Fig. 7, is a mutilated gear having two sets of teeth61, two sets of engaging lugs 62, and which has an extension 63supporting a disk 64 which has a pair of notches that may be engaged bya dog 65 4). The mutilated gear 60 may be driven by a second mutilatedgear 66 which has a single set of teeth 67 and a single engaging lug 68,this gear being power operated, as will be hereinafter described.Because of the few teeth and engaging lugs gear 60 transmits only thefinal or closing and the start of the releasing movement to the platen43, the amount of this movement being illustrated on the cam chart as B.

The turning movement illustrated on chart (Fig. 5) as A is provided bythe mechanism shown in Fig. 6, and is as follows: Gear 53 has arelatively broad face, and as it moves up and down with shaft 45, it hasa sliding Contact with a gear segment 69 oscillated upon a shaft 70 byan arm 71 pivoted at 72 to a crank 73 which is also )ivot-ed at 74 tothe special gear 75 carried by shaft 76. This gear meshes with andreceives power from a special gear 77 which has a toothed section 78 andsmooth section 79 and engaging lug 80, these parts engaging andoperating the toothed section 81, smooth face 82, and lug opening 83 ofgear 75.

At each revolution of gear 77 gear 75 is turned and this gear remainsstationary,

while the smooth portion 79 slides in the curved face 82, thus gear 53is turned back and forth and held stationary by the continuous rotationof gear 79.

Gear 79 will, however, only turn one revolution at a time through theaction of the power drive and clutch face shown in Figs. 10 to 12inclusive. Power is transmi ted to gear 79 as follows: Gear 79 ispinned."1 84 to a sleeve 85 to which is attached a clutch operating cam plate86, the sleeve extending through bearing 87 and having a clutch face 88covered with leather or other suitable friction material 89. The sleeve,gear, and clutch plate may slide a very short dis ance, say of an inchupon a power shaft 90,

being normally held by the spring 91 in the direction shown by thearrow. Shaft supports a clutch plate 92. Shaft 90 passes through thesleeve 85 and carries a gear 93 lying directly beneath a worm 94 on apower shaft 95 continuously driven by a motor 96.

Clutch 892 which may be called the main clutch may be operated by a kneelever 97 through operating mechanism diagrammatically shown in Fig. 11as consisting of a link 98 hinged at 99 to a connecting rod, and at 100to a bell crank lever 101 which operates the shaft 102 pinned to aU-shaped member 103 slidably mounted upon a plate 104, and having aspring 103 for holding a yoke in the position shown in full lines. A pin106 is carried by the lower end of the yoke and a similar pin 107 iscarried by the upper end of the yoke, both of these pins being adaptedto slide through bearing 108.

Each pin may pass into the path of the cam 86 and as the cam turns andthe cam member 109 is engaged by he pin 106 or 107 the friction element89 is spaced from the driving element 92 and the sleeve shaft with gear79 stops. Since there are two pins which may engage the cam 86 a singlepressure applied to knee lever 97 will cause the clutch to operatethrough of a revolution or 180, this distance being sufficient to movethe plate from an open to a closed position or vice versa.

In other words, as best illustrated in Fig. 5, a single actuation ofknee lever 97 will cause a roller 58 to move from the position shown at58A to the position shown at 58B, and a second actua ion will cause aroller 5813 to mere to the position shown at 58C. The can 52 is, ofcourse, also moved in an opposite direction by gear segment 69 at eachactuation.

By the mechanism above described the platen 43 may be operated at thewill of an operator to make a print. The time of both its opening andclosing movements may be regulated by the pressure on knee lever 97.

The operation of platen 44 will now be described. As before explained,this platen is carried by a pair of shafts 46 which move up and downonly a slight distance, the paper sliding beneath platen 44 from platen43 when the former is in a raised position. In order to move shaft 46,as best shown in Fig. 13, these shafts terminate in yokes 110 which haveslots 111 which may slide about shaft 112, these yokes having arms 113engaging cams 114 which are turned when the shaft 112 is turned. Powertransmitted to shaft 112 through sprocicet 113 and chain 114 and asprocket 115, this being shown in Fig. 1.

As shown in Fig. 10, sprocket 115 is attached to a clutca member 116,the opposite face of the clutch 117 being power driven by a shaft 118which is operated through a spiral gear 119 meshing with a spiral gear120 on shaft 90. When shaft 90 is driven through the main clutch 8892shaft 118 will be likewise driven.

There is asecondary clutch, shown in Figs. 10 and 12, which causes gear115 to operate only a portion of the time during which shaft 118 isoperated. This clutch is entirely automatic in its operation, and is notcontrolled by the operator except through the functioning of the platenoperating mechanism for platen 43.

Gear 115 together with clutch plate 116 is carried by sleeve shaft 121,this shaft being slidable through a bearing 122. It is thrust by aspring 123 towards the fixed clutch plate 117, this spring pressing on abearing 12 i and clutch plate 125 which at 126 is provided with a camwhichmay engage a pin 128 which moves the sleeve a sufiicient distanceto release driving contact between plates 116 and 117. This forms asecondary clutch.

As shown in Fig. 12, gear 79 is provided with a roller 128 which at eachrevolution engages a lever 129 pivoted at 130 to a bean.

ing and having a pin and slotconnection at 131 of the clutch operatinpin 138, this pin being normally held in a clutch disengaging positionby a spring 132, but bein momentarily moved from this position by lever129 momentarily engaging roller 128.

It will thus be seen that for each revolution of gear 79 sleeve shaft121 is turned one revolution thus raising and lowering platen 14.

Since a short exposure only is necessary for printing a fancy border orborder tint, and since the exposure is always the same platen 44 pressesagainst printing panel 117 only a comparatively short time, and israised the greater part of the time. his contact is controlled by theshape of cams 11 1, and I prefer to vary the exposure by means of theintensity of the light (not shown) used under printing panel 17, whichis preferably controlled'by a rheostat, as is well known in the art. Inthis way it is not necessary to provide different cams for vary: ing theexposure at this printing station.

Each time platen 43 is raised it automatically raises gauge member 2 1,as shown in Fig. 1, turning this member about its hinge 25 through theengagement of the platen edge of the latch member 135. As will be notedfrom cam 75, the first releasing movement of platen l3 is directlyupwardly.

This raises the gauge member 24': and permits the printing paper bygravity to slide downwardly beneath platen rl which is then in a raisedposition. As the turningmovement of platen 43 starts latch 185 isreleased, gauge 21 under the impulse of spring 186 returns toits paperlocating position. i

It isalso necessary'to raise gauge 27 after the border or margin hasbeen printed. This is done automatically by means of a post 28 whichpasses down through the slanting top 1, and which is raised and loweredwithout turning.

7 As indicated in Fig. 18 this gauge member may be conveniently turnedby the power driven shaft 112 through a cam 138 operating a yoke 139similar to yokes 110.

The timed relation of platen nand gauge member 27 are different as thegauge member 27 is in contactwith the slanting top in a paperpositioning position, practically all of the time, and is momentarilyraised to permit the paper to slide by gravity into drawer 8 as theplaten 1 i starts to raise. Before platen at is lowered, however, gauge27 is again in its paper positioning location. This movement can easilybe accomplished by the shape of cam 138.

The operation of this printer is very simple. Printing paper may beplaced on the top of platen 43 in the open position indicated in brokenlines, Fig. 2, an operator drops a piece of paper on the printing panel16. It is not necessary to accurately position this paper against thegauge 24 because the paper'willslide by gravity into engagement with thepositioning member. By pressing knee lever 97 to the left, platen 13automatically swings upon its post 45, and then is lowered pressingprinting paper, negative and mask together upon the printing panel 16.As long as knee lever 97 is pressed platen 43 remains in the positionshown in Fig. 1.

By releasing the pressure upon knee lever 97 platen 43 again moves to anopen position. During the first opening movement in which shaft 45 movesupwardly it does not turn, gauge 24 is raised through latch 135, and thepaper slides down beneath platen 4 1- into enga ement with gauge member27. As a second print is being made, by pressing lever 97 platen 4amomentarily presses upon the printing paper, causing the border to beprinted, and then releases the paper; As gauge 27 is also raised theprinting paper slides down into the drawer For pressing a new negativein position knee lever 39 may be pressed, raising the negative gripfingers 32. By rel-easing pressure on this lever the fingers engage theedge of the negative.

It should be noted that the operator performs'no more operations thanare usually performed in making a single print without a fancy border ormaslnthe second printing being entirely automatic, requiring noattention whatsoever.

While I have not shown or described he light system used, it may be ofany of the well known types inthis art. The reflectors and lamps, ofcourse, are carried by the slide 11, and the switches are actuated'intimed relation with the two platens. Since this forms no part of mypresent invention, it will not be further described herein.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is,

1. In a printing machine the combination with a cabinet, of a slidecarried by the cabinet, means for adjusting the slide, a printing panelcarried by the slide, and a gauge carried by the cabinet, whereby therelative position of the panel and gauge may be altered by moving thepanel.

2. In a printing machine the combination with a cabinet, of a slidecarried by the cabinet, means for adjusting the slide, a plurality ofprinting panels carried by the slide, gauges mounted on the cabinet,means for adjusting the slide to simultaneously alter the relation ofthe gauges and the printing panels.

3. In a printing machine the combination with a cabinet, of a slidecarried by the cabinet, means for adjusting the slide, a printing panelcarried by the slide, said printing panel being arranged at an angle tothe slideway, and a gauge mounted on the cabinet, said gauge includingan L- shaped member having two edges extending along edges of theprinting panel, the relation of the L-shaped member to the printingpanel being adjustable through the slide adjusting means.

4. In a printing machine, the combination with a cabinet, of a slidewaycarried by the cabinet, a slide movably mounted in the slide way aprinting panel having four sides arranged at substantially an angle of45 with respect to the slideway, a two sided gauge mounted on thecabinet with the sides substantially parallel to the sides of theprinting panel, and means for moving the slide in the slideway to adjustthe distance between two sides of the printing panel and two sides ofthe gauge.

5. In a printing machine, the combination with a cabinet, of an inclinedwall on the cabinet, a plurality of printing panels carried by theinclined wall one above the other, gauges located adjacent the printingpanels, separate means for independently moving the gauges to and froman operative position in which they may position printing paper over theprinting panels, the inclination of the wall permitting a sheet of paperto slide by gravity from the upper panel to the lower when the gauge onthe upper panel is moved from an operative position.

6. In a printing machine, the combination with a cabinet, of a slidewayin the cabinet, a slide movably mounted in the slideway, a printingpanel and a light source mounted on the panel, a gauge on the cabinet,and means for altering the relation of the printing panel and gauge byadjusting the panel in the slide.

7. In a printing machine, the combination with a cabinet, of a slidewayin the cabinet, a slide movably mounted in the slideway, a plurality ofprinting panels carried by the slide, and a light source under eachprint-ing panel also carried by the slide, a plurality oi? printingpaper gauges mounted on the cabinet having portions lying near theprinting panels, and means for moving the slide whereby the relation ofall the gauges to the printing panels may be simultaneously and equallyadjusted.

8. In a printing machine, the combination with a cabinet, of a slidewaycarried by the cabinet, a printing panel mounted in the slide havingedges at an angle of substantially 45 to the slideway, an angular papergauge, mounted on the cabinet, and means for adjusting the printingpanel relative to the paper gauge.

9. In a printing machine, the combination with a cabinet, of a slidewaydisposed at an angle to the cabinet with one end higher than the other,a slide mounted in the slideway, a printing panel carried by the slide,an L-shaped paper gauge carried by the cabinet, the inclination of theslideway being such that paper may slide by gravity against the L-shapedgauge and be located thereby relative to the printing panel.

10. In a printing machine, the combination with a cabinet, having a.front, of a pair of printing panels mounted in the front, a platen foreach printing panel movably mounted with respect thereto, power operatedmechanism under the control of an operator for actuating one platen, andconnections including a clutch between the other platen and the poweroperated mechanism for moving the second platen each time the firstplaten is actuated, said clutch being automatically actuated by saidpower operated mechanism.

11. In a printing machine, the combination with a cabinet, having afront, of a pair of printing panels mounted in the front, a platen foreach printing panel movably mounted with respect thereto, power operatedmechanism including a manually operable clutch under the control of anoperator through which one platen may be lowered and raised at the willof the operator, and connections between the power operated mechanismand the second platen including a mechanically operable clutch foractuating the second platen each time the first platen is actuated, saidmechanical operable clutch moving the second platen through a fixedcycle of movement.

12. In a printing machine, the combination with a pair of printingpanels, of platens adapted to move to and from the printing panels,power operated mechanism for actuating the platens, two clutches, one amanually operable clutch between the pow,- er operated mechanism andfirst platen, the other a mechanically operable clutch between thesecondplaten and the power operated mechanism, the former clutch being adapted.to give a controlled platen movement, and the latter being adapted togive a fixed platen movement, said latter clutch being interconnectedtothe power operated mechanism whereby the actuation of the manuallyoperable clutch may cause the mechanically operated clutch to function.

13. In a printing machine, the combination with a pair of printingpanels, of platens adapted to move to and from the printing panels, acontinuously rotating source of power,'a manually operable clutch,connections through said clutch to said source of power wherebyactuation of said clutch may cause one of said platens to move, a secondmechanically controlled clutch adapted to connect said second platen tosaid source of power, said mechanically controlled clutch beinginterconnected with said first mentioned clutch whereby the mechanicallyoperated clutch may be operated by operating the manually operableclutch.

14. In a printingmachine the combination with acabinet, of a slidewaydisposed at an angle to the cabinet with one end higher than the other,a slide mounted in the slideway, a plurality of printing panels carriedby the slide one above the other, a

plurality of L-shaped gauges located on the cabinet and extending overadjacent printing panels one gauge being provided for each printingpanel, separate means for differentially raising the gauge members fromtheir respective printing panels, whereby the gauge adjacent the upperprinting panel may be raised to permit a sheet of paper to slide fromthe upper panel to the lower panel, and permitting the gauge for thelower panel to be raised topermit a sheet of paper to slide from anoperative position with respect thereto.

Signed at Rochester, New York this 4th day of June, 1928.

ROY S. HOPKINS.

